PACHA Wants Improved Air Quality Advisories for PG

Monday, July 24, 2006 04:58 PM

The People’s Action Committee for Healthy Air (PACHA) says the Ministry of the Environment’s use of a 24-hour averaging figure for issuing advisories on fine particulate matter isn’t a good enough warning system for area residents.

PASCHA says if the measure has been low for 23 hours and begins to rise, the full level of that higher hourly rate never shows up. There is not only a delayed response in the reporting of the degree of concentration, but there is also a considerable diminished concentration reported than actually occurred on an hourly basis during an episode.

As people breathe, they do not breathe 24 hour average concentrations, says PACHA. They breathe the concentration at the instance that they take that breath. Concentrations during inversions are much higher than the 24 hour figures available to the public indicate,. On Friday at 10:00 a.m. it was more than three times as high. PASCA says this points up the weakness in the 24-hour averaging system.

A 1995/96 study conducted by the Department of Environmental Health and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, shows that the risk of heart attack onset increased in association with elevated concentrations of fine particles in the previous 2-hour period.

Hourly figures have been available for some 10 years. PACHA feels that to better protect the health of the public, a system should be put in place so those levels are reported to the public. A new health related air quality index has been worked on by the federal government in consultation with the provinces, urban centers and stakeholders for the last 4 years. It is still in the testing stage.

The fact that an improvement to the present system is being sought shows that governments feel the current system is inadequate in protecting the public health.

If this system gets adopted, the averaging will be over a three hour rather than 24 hour period. Since the new system will likely take a few more years to be implemented, PACHA feels that the health of our citizens would be better protected if an effort is made to make hourly averaged data available. In addition, PACHA believes advisories should be issued much earlier based more on such hourly concentration.

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Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 04:58 PM in Health by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Simple Simon on July 24 2006 6:10 PM

Don't fix the crappy air problem. Just keep us better informed of the degree of crappiness. Duh! What a bunch of well meaning ninnies.

Posted by: Simple Simon on July 24 2006 6:12 PM

Oh! by the way, I am just one of the lucky ones that breathe 24 hours a day.

Posted by: owl on July 24 2006 8:19 PM

Hey, I breathe 24 hours also ... most people do ...

So, let's assume you are confined to a closed room for 24 hours .... 23 of those hours the room has nice clean air .... for the 24th hour of that time friends visit ... they smoke up the room for the hour ....... the room is filled with a blue haze and some people, perhaps even you, start wheezing a bit .... the particultes in the room are very high during that hour and then start getting diluted again once the smoking stops ..... the reading of a monitor in the room for the hour shows a level of 25, let's say .... for the 23 hours before it shows a reading of 1 for each of those hours ....... the average reading over the 24 hour period is (25+23)/24 = 2 ...

The reading of 2 gets reported after the 24th hour, not the reading of 25 for the single hour.

So, for those who care, they would want to know that the reading is as high as it is during that hour since they can then leave the room for that hour ....

So, I realize that that is a bit of an oversimplification ... but it is for Simple Simon ..

;-)

Posted by: active on July 24 2006 9:29 PM

the point is, we need to know exactly what we are dealing with air-wise in order to move on to possible solutions. Without knowing EXACT pollution numbers corresponding to the actual moments of our lives (not averages), we are being pretty ignorant about health impacts & the actual sources of our pollution.

Some of us choose to spend some of our 24 hours of breathing per day doing cardio activities & it would be good to be able to choose the right hours for these activities. I like to know when I run out the door, I am strengthening my lungs, not wrecking them in a given period of time!

Hope you're into taking action to fix the crappy air problem, Simple Simon. That comes next!

Posted by: Simple Simon on July 25 2006 12:10 AM

Seems we have known about this crappy air for a few years now. Hey! Now is a good time to fix it. Yeah, right. Starting tomorrow morning I am only gonna take every other breath. That oughto cut my bad air consumption in half.

Posted by: owl on July 25 2006 12:14 AM

Hmmmmm ... if you have bad breath it would also reduce the consumption of bad air by those around you .....

okay .. okay ... I know that was uncalled for, but you left yourself wide open ..

;-)

Posted by: trusted on July 25 2006 9:13 AM

There has been a problem of dirty stinking air in Prince George for 40 years, and now the serious complaints are surfacing.
Is this community slow-or what?
Jago was going to fix it up and then he left the committee.
They have to keep this true reading under wraps so as not to alarm the guy jogging at high levels which would be detrimental to his respiratory system rather than a benefit from the jogging.
Gasping and choking is a sure sign the air is not equivalent to good old mountain air.
Hard to blame smokers any longer-and no more fireplaces, firepits,and whatever man does to contribute to pollution, but ridding the city of air pollution from vehicle emissions and dust is near impossible.
True-proper reporting frequently would be a benefit. Hasn't happened in 40 years.
Do we really wonder why?

Posted by: kimbo on July 25 2006 10:45 AM

This is great news to hear we must improve how our air quality readings are taken and we have used this faulty system for 10 years.

We have asphalt plants and three pulp mills within the city limits and we are concerned about how our air qulity is being monitored and then we want an extra bridge across the Nechako so we can get to our work place faster. We want it all at our finger tips so we have more time for leisure.

At the moment we are having another subdivsion approved across the river from from the BCR Indusrial site just to improve our tax base for the manderins at city hall. Will we ever learn?

We are the worlds best fixer-uppers but why not have a look at whats causing the problems. Instead of a better mointoring system lets do some thing about whats giving us the poor air quality.

The first thing on the list would be a new Mayor and council that would have the conviction to clean up the planing department at City hall and how our City is being run.

And thats my opinion.

Posted by: Chester on July 25 2006 11:18 PM

Well put Kimbo. I share your thoughts on this issue.

We need leaders who will stand up to the polluters and implement the necessary changes that will improve things.

Let's begin every future study with the goal of producing a solution or a combination of recommendations that our leaders actually implement. Otherwise, postpone your studies.

We seem to lack leaders with B--ls. Chester